A collection of humorous, touching, and always thought provoking articles from various sources.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Sharing Your Faith – Witnessing

The streets and
sidewalks of the United
States are an open forum for
evangelism. The Constitution guarantees the right to preach the Gospel in
public places. The Supreme Court’s many cases involving preaching (or
other speech activities) on the streets provide ready answers to those who
challenge your right to give away religious tracks, pamphlets, and other
printed martial and to speak with people on the street about your faith.

What laws protect my right to witness and share my faith
in public?

When you give
away religious tracts in public places - streets, sidewalks, and parks - you
are engaged in a form of speech and publication protected by the United States
Constitution and civil rights laws. When you speak with someone about the
Gospel while in a public place, you enjoy constitutional protection.

As American
citizens, we are protected by the United States Constitution from government
interference with our right of free speech. This includes the right to
evangelize. Also, the Constitutions of every state in our country include
guarantees of free speech, which are at least as protective of free speech as
the federal Constitution.

The First
Amendment to the United States Constitution provides, "Congress shall make
no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech," and the Fourteenth
Amendment states, "Nor shall any State deprive any person of life,
liberty, or property, without due process of law . . . ." The
Supreme Court has ruled that these two provisions of the Constitution severely
limit the power of federal, state, and local governments to interfere with
speech activities on sidewalks, streets and in parks. Moreover, Supreme
Court “precedent establishes that private religious speech, far from being a
First Amendment orphan, is as fully protected under the Free Speech Clause as
secular private expression.”1 It is a constitutional axiom that the
distribution of free religious literature is a form of expression protected by
the First Amendment.2 As the Supreme Court unequivocally
held:

The hand distribution
of religious tracts is an age old form of missionary evangelism -- as old as
the history of printing presses. It has been a potent force in various
religious movements down through the years. . . . It is more than
preaching; it is more than distribution of religious literature. It is a
combination of both. Its purpose is as evangelical as the revival
meeting. This form of religious activity occupies the same high estate
under the First Amendment as do worship in the churches and preaching from the
pulpits.3

Am I soliciting when I hand out religious literature and
share my faith?

No! Giving
away free Gospel tracts and talking to people about salvation is not the same
thing as soliciting. The Supreme Court has held that there is a
difference between soliciting and leafleting. The Supreme Court permitted
the postal service to enforce a rule against asking (soliciting) for donations
on postal property. However, the Court suggested that it would reject a
rule that banned free distribution of literature on such properties, stating:

As residents of
metropolitan areas know from daily experience, confrontation by a person asking
for money disrupts passage and is more intrusive and intimidating than an
encounter with a person giving out information. One need not ponder the
contents of a leaflet or pamphlet in order mechanically to take it out of
someone's hand, but one must listen, comprehend, decide and act in order to
respond to a solicitation.4

The Supreme
Court considered a restriction on leafleting and another restriction on
solicitation of donations in airport terminals. The Court concluded that
solicitation is separate from literature distribution and that, despite the
fact that the airport terminals were nonpublic forums, a regulation barring the
distribution of free literature in the terminals was unreasonable and
unconstitutional. Accordingly, while a city official may, in some
instances, not allow solicitation, such a regulation may not be broadened to
include literature distribution. As long as you are giving away your
literature for free, and not asking for donations, you are engaging in the most
protected form of speech.5

Where can I go to hand out Gospel tracts to the public?

You can go to
any publicly owned street, sidewalk, or park. In legal terms, streets,
sidewalks, and parks are called "traditional public forums."
The Supreme Court has held that a traditional public forum is government
property that is traditionally opened to public speech, 6 including
such places as streets, sidewalks, and parks.7 That means that
these are the places that are open to public speeches, leafleting, newspaper
distribution, political rallies, public marches, and other speech activity.

You are not
merely limited to streets, parks, and sidewalks for tract distribution; courts
have found many other places to be appropriate. Subject to local laws and
ordinances, airport terminals, bus and train stations, and walkways surrounding
government-owned coliseums, stadiums, and memorials may be appropriate locations
for leafleting.8

Sometimes a city
official will get confused about these "traditional public
forums." The Supreme Court rejected a Wisconsin
city's argument that the streets and sidewalks of a residential area were not
the sort of "traditional public forums" that the Court had held were
generally open to free speech and activities.

The Court noted,
however, that some time, place, and manner restrictions are permissible
depending on the nature of the streets at issue. For example, a rule against
parades between sunset and sunrise on residential streets serves a valid
purpose of protecting the peace of a neighborhood when most residents are
resting. It is wise to look up local laws and ordinances ahead of
time. You can always call the local police station if you have questions.9

If I am witnessing on the public sidewalk in front of a
business, am I “loitering,” and can I be required to move away from the
business?

No!
"Loitering" is the criminal offense of remaining in a certain place
(such as a public street) for no apparent reason.”10 Evangelism
activities, however, are a legitimate purpose for standing on a public
sidewalk.11

Do not stand in
the middle of the street where you will be obstructing the flow of
traffic. The government may prohibit this in the interest of vehicle and
pedestrian safety.12 Your right to use the sidewalks, streets
and parks is not a license to make them unusable for others, e.g., barricading
a sidewalk, allowing only those who will take a tract to pass.13

Do I have the same rights to witness on the streets of a
town in which I don’t live?

The
constitutional protection of free speech under the First Amendment applies to
all citizens and aliens and extends throughout the United States. Thus you are not
limited to sharing your faith on the streets, sidewalks, and parks in your
town. The Supreme Court has acknowledged that “speech on public issues
occupies the highest rung of the hierarchy of First Amendment values, and is
entitled to special protection.”14

What should I do to get started witnessing and sharing my
faith in public?

First, devote
time to prayerful preparation. Next, select a location. You may
choose a place because of the opportunity to reach many people - outside a
sports stadium or near an historic monument. You may also have a target
group in mind. For example, if your burden is for young people, you will
want to pick locations where they pass by or gather.

If the location
you choose is not a nice, simple sidewalk location, you should speak to the
appropriate authority to discover what rules have been adopted to govern your
activities. (This does not mean that you must always accept, as good law,
a rule barring leafleting.) Check with a county clerk, the police
department, the security office at the stadium, or similar offices. This
will let you know what to expect when you witness.

If you are in a
public place and are stopped from distributing free literature, do not assume
that it was correct for you to be stopped. Too many Supreme Court cases
have been decided against governments on these matters to assume that the
government is always right. Just by challenging them, the government
often changes their policies.